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If that sentiment snowballs, that could be a problem for Speaker John Boehner as he tries to hold the line against President Barack Obama, who wants to mix spending cuts and tax loopholes closures to delay the spending cuts that now start in March.

Rooney — a Boehner ally — said on Tuesday that he “would rather have tax increases than cut our defense” after Obama suggested mixing spending reductions with revenue to stop deep Pentagon cuts.

“I think that our party has shifted away from prioritizing a strong national defense to one that’s considering what amounts to a reckless cut in spending just for the sake of cutting spending rather that looking at what we believe historically are the true drivers of our debt — entitlements,” Rooney said Tuesday. “We’re just taking what we can get right now.”

But Rooney’s buyer’s remorse over Pentagon slashing could have the danger of bleeding over to other GOP lawmakers before the sequester takes effect at the start of March, something that would help Obama — and hurt Boehner. After all, it was just one GOP lawmaker — Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole — who supported the idea of raising taxes for those making more than $250,000 during the fiscal cliff negotiations in December. The GOP later compromised on tax hikes for the wealthy.

For now, Rooney is at odds with Boehner and the majority of his colleagues, who have indicated they support the sequester as a last-ditch effort to curb what they dub out-of-control government spending over raising new revenue for the federal government.

Even before Obama spoke, Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) said he was “flabbergasted” by the president’s proposal, while Boehner suggested that new revenues backed by Obama should not be part of any deficit-reduction package, short or long term.

“We’ve tried to replace sequester with other things, but it seems now that a large portion of our conference is [resigned] to the fact that sequestration is OK,” Rooney said in an interview. “It’s not. It’s dangerous, a huge mistake, a threat to our liberty … and I think that we should consider any and all options that don’t include hollowing out our military.”

Obama certainly hopes House Republicans move toward Rooney’s position. But Obama’s challenge is significantly more difficult, because most Republicans right now sound like Georgia Rep. Lynn Westmoreland.